The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-09-21
ANARCHIST PARSONS.
His Brother, Gen. w. III. Parsons, Reviews
His Red Flag Career.

His Brother, Gen. w. III. Parsons, Reviews
His Red-Flag Career.
Norfolk (va) Letter New York World.
Gen. W. 81. Parsons. brother OF the con-
demned Anarchist. was interviewed by the
World correspondent in this city to-day. and in
reply to lnterrogatories said:
s'My brother the only American among the
condemned Anarchists, was born in Mon tgomery
county, Alabama, June 20, 194s. and is therefore
in his fortieth year. His grandfather a ma
iorgeneral in the Revolutionary War, and his
granduncle lost an at the battle of Blu nker
Hill. At twelve years of age my brother en-
tered the Galveston News Office. but the
breaking out OF the war, at the as Q OF thirteen,
ne ioued confederate company, the Lone
Star Greys, participating in many actions and
assisting in the captvs1 of Gen. Twiggs. He
later became member af my brigade and
excellent cavalry scout. STRIVING under until
the war ended, when be vas seventeen years of
age.
and was married to q talented and beautiful
Mexican lady IN 1872 at Austin, Tex. Two chill
dren the result of their union. In 1870 he
was elected Secetary Of the Texas Senate, and
the following year was appointed deputy col
lector of internal revenue. Going to Chicago
in 1873 he resumed his trade compositor
the Times, and in 1876 joined the Socialists
He has been president of the trade and labor
association for three years. He has been NOM
mated for alderman three times. for Congress
twice and for Sheriff and county clerk once
each.
'.At the national convention of the Socialis-
tic Labor party, held il Allegheny, Pa. in
1874 he was nominated for President of the
United States but the age requirement, il
nothing else, would have prevented his election.
AT the tire of his surrender to the court he
was the editor of the Alarm. My brother is a
philosophical Anarchist and claims the gift of
prophecy. He has never counseled revolution
but has prophesied it. In his words addressed
to Mr.. Powderly from the Chicago bastlle July
a. 1885, he said:
".Whether we live or die, the social revolu-
ton is inevitable. The boundaries of human
freedom must be enlarged and widened. The
seventeenth century was a struggle for religious
liberty, the eighteenth for political equality. and
in this century mankind is demanding economic
and industrial freedom. The fruition Of this
struggle means the social revolution. We see it
coming; we predict, we hail it with JOY. Are We
criminals for thatP
s.As am an old time Jeffersonian Democrat 1
frequently expostulated with my brother on the
idea involved N the word anarchy His reply to
me, with the bars between us and the shadow of
the scaffold hanging over him. was: Il am not
revolutionist per Revolutions not made
by agitators, and prophets are tire creatures of
wrongs inflicted by the privileged few and their
tools. We do not seek to make revolution. we
simply see it coming. We predict it, AMI a
criminal for thatf
II would interpose that the people administer
the corrective for existing evils through the
machinery of the ballot. To this he would re-
ply: The people will SO attempt. but be only
measurably successful. The vested wrongs of
the privileged class, although in the hands Of
meagre minority will never be reinquished
without coercion. Witness our late civil war;
Il often pressed my brother for an explana-
tion of of the term anarchism as meant and be-
lieved in by him. His reply was: .Philosophic
anarchy is the very antpodes of anarchy de-
fined by capitalism. Webster defines anarchy
without rulers governors and disorder
and confusion The latter is capitalistic
archy; philosophc anarchy Is condition with
out rulers governors invested with authority
to dictate TO others against their will
There is pretense that my brother or any
of the copdemped men threw the bomb. They
are all condemned as supposed although not
proved accomplices, for there can be no access
Org without a principal and the principal yet
mains unknown. The circunstantial evidence
strongly points to an agent of the New York
Stock Exchange, who, through Pinkerton's
mercenar,es tried to break up the eeht-hour
movement by charging the bomb-throwing
the leaders OF the labor movement On April
25, 1886 the New York Times said:
1.-The strike question is Of course the domi
nant and is disagreeabe one in many
ways short and easy method to settle is
urged in some [stock iobbing quarters which is
to indict for conspiracy 1.-The course pursued in
this easel every man who strikes and summarily
lock him up. This method would strike whole
some terror into the hearts of the working
classes. Another way suggested is to pick out
the leaders and make such an example of them
to others into submission
''The New York Tribune said Just preceding
the May movement. The best policy would be
TO drive the workingmen into open mutiny
against the law
dianapolis the day before the explosion, and
stepping into saloon. said. pointing to his
pet-bag: There Is something there you will hear
from in Chicago in few days After the ex-
plosion the indianapolis citizen made affidavit OF
this fact. The witness. Bennett; the trial,
described the man whom he saw throw the
bomb not in the alley. but forty feet south of it.
His description of this man exactly corresponds
with the description of the Indianapolis traveller
from New York-a short. dark man with side
whlskers The explosion not intended for
the police, but a pretext for the arrest of the
leaders of the eight-hour movement. They were
arrested. and, as intended, charged with the
crime. They are condemned to death. and
terror is in the hearts of many craven men who
deserted them The short-hour day movement
was, as intended. broken up, and as Bradstreet's
reported May 8, stocks recovered and the
market doomed, and millions were poured into
the Golfers Of the conspring bull operators who
VII